Three people, including a baby girl, are dead and a further five remain in hospital after a fire at a flat in Derbyshire.

Witnesses have told how a man threw a child out of a window of the burning building onto a mattress and how neighbours used ladders in desperate rescue attempts before fire crews arrived just after 4am, the BBC reports.

A man, a woman, and a baby girl died at the scene of the Langley Mill blaze, while a further five people were taken to hospital.

Derbyshire police said they are "keeping an open mind as to the cause of the fire and have not ruled anything out".

A car fire spread to nearby flats, the BBC reports, and several neighbouring properties were evacuated after the blaze caused a gas leak.

A fire service spokesman said that two people from the flat that caught on fire managed to escape along with a further three people from a nearby flat.

Neighbour Craig McFarlane told the BBC: "We went to get a few ladders and managed to get a few people out. There were about 20-30 people running around. Everyone was out there doing what they could do.

"Flames were climbing up the stairs and up the flats so fast. Nobody stood a chance."